I had little idea of what I was getting into when I agreed to grab dinner at Raffi’s Place in Glendale. Glendale hosts, of course, the biggest population of Armenians outside of the Middle East, but I was meeting my Persian friends and knew that Raffi’s had to have at least some Persian touches. This turned out to be true, as Raffi’s Place served up Armenian food with a Persian twist because a bunch of ethnic Armenians come from the land formerly known as Persia. But enough about ethnicities and whatnot, let’s get on with the food.

EDIT: Eden Burger Bar has moved (still in Glendale) and also changed its name to Eden on Brand. Hopefully it’s just as good.

I’ve been meaning to get to Eden Burger Bar for a long time. Yet, Glendale is really goddamn far when you live in Culver City or, well, Pittsburgh. But living in Pasadena and making regular trips to Bob Hope’s airport? That’s a perfect recipe for stopping in for a burger in a place synonymous with paradise.

First off, no, there is no such thing as unlimited libation at Golden Road Brewing. But I just couldn’t resist making the painfully obvious Grateful Dead reference. Especially because there was nothing at all Grateful Dead about the brewery. As one of the few microbreweries in LA, Golden Road resides in a sketchy part of Glendale and is kind of personifies a blend of collar and hipster, at least in decor and architecture. The food menu tries to bridge that gap as well, but leans heavier on the latter than the former, with a frightening number of vegan menu items and a couple of sandwiches to scare any blue collar visitors back to the smelting plant.

More than once, my work has taken me into the bowels of Glendale, past a little hole-in-the-wall called Jimmy’s Super Lunch. On the outside, it appears to be your average burger shack, but a quick look at the menu and at those working inside tells a different story. Jimmy’s appears to be a part of the trend of old burger places that are now run by Asians (family or otherwise) that now double as teriyaki chicken shacks. I encountered this with Irv’s, Twin Castle and Crown Burger and I’m now suspecting this is more of the norm than some sort of trend.

Dinah’s Fried Chicken in Glendale is offering some free chicken that is sure to please. According to LAist, “Customers have their choice of a leg and thigh or breast and wing plus one side dish absolutely free.” I guess they were just waiting for the Grilled Chicken War between KFC and El Pollo Loco to cool off. Fortunately, this offer isn’t about supposedly “healthy” grilled chicken.

The deal runs through the end of August and the only catch is that you can only go once, as they will be checking IDs and putting your name on a list (more incentive to finally get that fake ID?).